Anne Arundel County police chief under investigation

County executive gets complaints of retaliation, use of homophobic slurs

UPDATED 8:50 AM EDT Apr 25, 2013

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -

Anne Arundel County's relatively new police chief is under investigation amid allegations that he used homophobic slurs and retaliated against officers who testified in the case of former County Executive John Leopold.

Current County Executive Laura Neuman confirmed to 11 News that her office has launched an investigation after County Councilman James Benoit alerted her to the allegations. However, police Chief Larry Tolliver and one of his corporals are fighting back.

Tolliver has only been on the job for nine months. The internal investigation is looking into allegations that he called police officers homophobic slurs and retaliated against officers whose court testimony led to the indictment and misconduct conviction of Leopold, who appointed him last summer.

According to The Baltimore Sun, Benoit wrote a letter to Neuman that details complaints he's received from at least one of the officers, saying that Tolliver demoted officers to lesser positions and that Tolliver "referred to a person as a 'rump ranger,'' which Benoit described as "derogatory slang used to describe a homosexual male."

The letter also said Tolliver looked at a photo of an officer and said "I didn't know you were a (homophobic slur)."

Powell is also the president of the Anne Arundel County Black Officers Association. He said Tolliver is committed to department diversity when it comes to race and sexual orientation.

"Definitely so. He wants it to be a diverse police department across the board," he said.

When asked if the allegations of Tolliver using homophobic slurs surprised him, he responded, "Yes. That was surprising to me."

In a statement to 11 News, Tolliver said, "I, in no way, shape or form am I homophobic. I don't encourage any negative attitudes or feelings towards homosexuality and don't question anyone about their sexuality. … No one has been reassigned for retaliation or punitive purposes. These reassignments were done for the betterment of the agency."

Copyright 2013 byWBALTV.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.